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A decision-theoretic approach to dealing with uncertainty in quantum mechanics

De Vos, Keano, de Cooman, Gert, Erreygers, Alexander, De Bock, Jasper

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

We provide a decision-theoretic framework for dealing with uncertainty in quantum mechanics. This uncertainty is two-fold: on the one hand there may be uncertainty about the state the quantum system is in, and on the other hand, as is essential to quantum mechanical uncertainty, even if the quantum state is known, measurements may still produce an uncertain outcome. In our framework, measurements therefore play the role of acts with an uncertain outcome and our simple decision-theoretic postulates ensure that Born's rule is encapsulated in the utility functions associated with such acts. This approach allows us to uncouple (precise) probability theory from quantum mechanics, in the sense that it leaves room for a more general, so-called imprecise probabilities approach. We discuss the mathematical implications of our findings, which allow us to give a decision-theoretic foundation to recent seminal work by Benavoli, Facchini and Zaffalon, and we compare our approach to earlier and different approaches by Deutsch and Wallace.


Conditioning through indifference in quantum mechanics

De Vos, Keano, de Cooman, Gert

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

We can learn (more) about the state a quantum system is in through measurements. We look at how to describe the uncertainty about a quantum system's state conditional on executing such measurements. We show that by exploiting the interplay between desirability, coherence and indifference, a general rule for conditioning can be derived. We then apply this rule to conditioning on measurement outcomes, and show how it generalises to conditioning on a set of measurement outcomes.


Risk Measures and Upper Probabilities: Coherence and Stratification

Fröhlich, Christian, Williamson, Robert C.

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Machine learning typically presupposes classical probability theory which implies that aggregation is built upon expectation. There are now multiple reasons to motivate looking at richer alternatives to classical probability theory as a mathematical foundation for machine learning. We systematically examine a powerful and rich class of alternative aggregation functionals, known variously as spectral risk measures, Choquet integrals or Lorentz norms. We present a range of characterization results, and demonstrate what makes this spectral family so special. In doing so we arrive at a natural stratification of all coherent risk measures in terms of the upper probabilities that they induce by exploiting results from the theory of rearrangement invariant Banach spaces. We empirically demonstrate how this new approach to uncertainty helps tackling practical machine learning problems.


On Trivalent Logics, Compound Conditionals, and Probabilistic Deduction Theorems

Gilio, Angelo, Over, David E., Pfeifer, Niki, Sanfilippo, Giuseppe

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

In this paper we recall some results for conditional events, compound conditionals, conditional random quantities, p-consistency, and p-entailment. Then, we show the equivalence between bets on conditionals and conditional bets, by reviewing de Finetti's trivalent analysis of conditionals. But our approach goes beyond de Finetti's early trivalent logical analysis and is based on his later ideas, aiming to take his proposals to a higher level. We examine two recent articles that explore trivalent logics for conditionals and their definitions of logical validity and compare them with our approach to compound conditionals. We prove a Probabilistic Deduction Theorem for conditional events. After that, we study some probabilistic deduction theorems, by presenting several examples. We focus on iterated conditionals and the invalidity of the Import-Export principle in the light of our Probabilistic Deduction Theorem. We use the inference from a disjunction, "$A$ or $B$", to the conditional,"if not-$A$ then $B$", as an example to show the invalidity of the Import-Export principle. We also introduce a General Import-Export principle and we illustrate it by examining some p-valid inference rules of System P. Finally, we briefly discuss some related work relevant to AI.


Path Planning Problem under non-probabilistic Uncertainty

Shariatmadar, Keivan

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

This paper considers theoretical solutions for path planning problems under non-probabilistic uncertainty used in the travel salesman problems under uncertainty. The uncertainty is on the paths between the cities as nodes in a travelling salesman problem. There is at least one path between two nodes/stations where the travelling time between the nodes is not precisely known. This could be due to environmental effects like crowdedness (rush period) in the path, the state of the charge of batteries, weather conditions, or considering the safety of the route while travelling. In this work, we consider two different advanced uncertainty models (i) probabilistic-precise uncertain model: Probability distributions and (ii) non-probabilistic--imprecise uncertain model: Intervals. We investigate what theoretical results can be obtained for two different optimality criteria: maximinity and maximality in the travelling salesman problem.


Nonlinear desirability theory

Miranda, Enrique, Zaffalon, Marco

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Desirability can be understood as an extension of Anscombe and Aumann's Bayesian decision theory to sets of expected utilities. At the core of desirability lies an assumption of linearity of the scale in which rewards are measured. It is a traditional assumption used to derive the expected utility model, which clashes with a general representation of rational decision making, though. Allais has, in particular, pointed this out in 1953 with his famous paradox. We note that the utility scale plays the role of a closure operator when we regard desirability as a logical theory. This observation enables us to extend desirability to the nonlinear case by letting the utility scale be represented via a general closure operator. The new theory directly expresses rewards in actual nonlinear currency (money), much in Savage's spirit, while arguably weakening the founding assumptions to a minimum. We characterise the main properties of the new theory both from the perspective of sets of gambles and of their lower and upper prices (previsions). We show how Allais paradox finds a solution in the new theory, and discuss the role of sets of probabilities in the theory.


Google Cloud gets dedicated AI management platform

#artificialintelligence

Google Cloud is offering users access to an AI platform that allows them to build, deploy, and manage AI projects in the cloud without needing extensive data science knowledge. Isik said the platform has been created to bring the benefits of AI and machine learning to smaller organisations, for whom adopting AI can be a daunting challenge if you lack the skills and resources available to Fortune 500 businesses. "My team of data scientists saw a real need for software that could democratize machine learning innovation by removing these common barriers," he said in a statement. The platform also includes lifecycle management capabilities to monitor infrastructure utilization and model behavior. According to Prevision.io, the intuitive user interface and predictive analytics in its platform allow users to get set up in minutes and have models up and running in three to four weeks, as opposed to months for existing ways to build and deploy machine learning models.


Top companies represented by Kaggle Grandmasters

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Described as the Airbnb for data scientists, Kaggle is a crowdsourcing platform for aspirants to nurture, train and challenge their learnings. The search for "Kaggle" has increased by 55 percent over five years, and the platform has over 8 million users across 194 countries. While the platform trains several aspirants, it also has many established data scientists. Analytics India Magazine analysed the top 100 Kaggle grandmasters as of April 2022 to explore the top companies represented by them. Here's the latest breakdown of what users do on Kaggle.


Text Classification with Prevision.io

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In this post we will show how in just a few minutes the Prevision.io It is known that textual data is usually more tricker and harder to process than the linear or categorical features. In fact, the linear features sometimes need to be scaled. Categorical features are scalar straightly encoded, but transforming texts into machine readable format requires a lot of pre-processing and feature engineering. Moreover, there are many other challenges that have to be addressed: how to cover different languages? How is it possible to preserve the semantic relationship between the words' vocabulary?


Uncertainty measures: The big picture

Cuzzolin, Fabio

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Probability theory is far from being the most general mathematical theory of uncertainty. A number of arguments point at its inability to describe second-order ('Knightian') uncertainty. In response, a wide array of theories of uncertainty have been proposed, many of them generalisations of classical probability. As we show here, such frameworks can be organised into clusters sharing a common rationale, exhibit complex links, and are characterised by different levels of generality. Our goal is a critical appraisal of the current landscape in uncertainty theory.